Hello, One year, I was finishing a photo shoot of a custom car that I had not seen before. It was a local builder and it was very unusual. It was not the famous “bubble top” custom we have all seen in magazines everywhere. This was a So Cal local photo shoot. Yes, it was hot in this inland city and it had to be done on that day due to having space held for me in one of the pre-prepped magazine layouts, and this “custom car.” Normally, I took the photos, spend a couple of days writing my notes into a legible story and place them on a storyboard at my home. Then consulting with my wife’s notes, we coordinated the story to make some sense. Once I finished moving the photos around, they fit the places, had captions on them and were in b/w plus the ever hopeful color slides per page were all ready. Then, I was ready to go to the production area of the magazine headquarters to present them to the editors. So, this one was a pre-approved photo shoot. No one else had the contact information and the owner wanted me to photograph the custom car. Jnaki It was so hot on that day and the photos took longer than normal due to the unusual custom car and location. So, to my recollection, it was a lowered custom body that looked like a 61 T-Bird, but no one would be able to recognize it as a T-Bird. It had a clear Lexan bubble top similar to the famous one in the above photo. But, this one was a “one-off” single clear dome. No, garnish attachments, but a one piece, clear dome. The steering was done by a stick lever and another lever was in the normal place for the transmission. The gas and brake pedal were custom, but in the standard locations. The owner drove it to a park and we started doing the all around photos. It was a wonder as to how it was made and drove. As the morning rolled on, it was getting hotter by the day and when the car was moved, the top had to be down, so it was hotter inside. After the shots were finished and we were getting packed up, the owner asked me if i wanted to drive the custom car around the parking lot. I just could not say no. But, it was a mistake I realized later. The top had to be down. The stick was awful in controlling left or right. When backing up, there was an excellent all around view and the all around clear view was needed it while inside. The system of using a stick and gas/brake pedal was so odd that I could only go a few feet before I stepped on the brake to stop. It was not a car to drive daily and even a short drive into the entrance of a custom car show would have been “shaky” for anyone. Note: There are no photos of this custom car. I gave the magazine all of the best shots for the storyboard layout. So those are gone. Then I gave the owner a ton of photos printed/mounted on custom wooden frames and printed several slides, too. But the sad thing was, the magazine decided to not run the story due to the direction of the hot rod roadster/coupe oriented magazine. Trucks and lowered custom cars were in the minority and so, all of the photos, slides, and stuff was given to the sad owner when I told him of the magazine’s decision. Other magazines would not accept the story line, either. So, it laid dormant forever. Now, it is gone forever…or???
The Jalopy Journal
